Authors: Anne Styles
'Cress and her bloody buttons!' he joked, struggling with them. He let the dress down and the froth of petticoats attached to it dropped with it. Sarah stepped out of it, kicking it away, standing very still in front of him in the lace pants and hold-up stockings which were all she wore under it, hearing his gasp of amazement as she released her hair. She and Cress had joked that afternoon as they had put on stockings, but she had assumed she would be taking hers off alone. Cress had obviously known differently.
Even so, she gave him no help, watching with a soft smile as he struggled with stubborn cufflinks, dragging off his shirt half-buttoned in his impatience. Only then did she take off the lace pants, letting him remove the stockings slowly, teasingly slowly, and shivering at his hands and lips on her legs as he did it.
'I've ached for you so often during the last few months,' he sighed when they were finally both naked, and he laid her on the bed, trailing his fingertips over her, making her tremble and then twist with desire as they quickly became bolder, moving to explore the soft gold tangle of curls at the apex of her thighs, persuading them to part easily, allowing his mouth to take over his devastating exploration.
They had all the time in the world and he took it, marvelling at her body as he remembered and rediscovered it. Her desire for him hadn't dimmed as she had begun to think it had. She measured her length against him, sliding her toes along his bare legs, making him cry out as she touched him, wielding all her old power over him again in seconds. Diana might have been around, she thought triumphantly, but Nick felt to her as if he hadn't seen a woman in months. She was driving him insane.
With a groan of need, he threw himself onto her, all gentleness gone in his desperate need to possess her, to spill himself inside her and make her his again.
'Has there really not been anyone else?' he asked, when they had made love for the second time, and Sarah lay in his arms gently running her fingers through the soft hair on his chest.
'No, really, no one.' She smiled. 'Almost once with Charlie, but nothing really happened.' 'Getting it up has always been Charlie's problem,' he commented disparagingly 'Not with Bruce, though? I'm surprised. He's not the type to leave you alone, I know.' '
Bruce is sweet, but he's just a friend, and very mixed up over his ex-wife. I just made him look good to everyone else while he was getting over her.'
'He's one of the most evil men I know!' Nick shuddered. 'He's into coke in a big way, surely you realize that?'
'Yes, but he never made me use it. I wouldn't anyway. You should know that!' Nick pulled her close.
'I nearly freaked when I saw a picture of him with you in Variety. You looked so ill.'
'You thought I was into drugs! Oh, gosh - I bet that's why Charles dragged me to see his doctor! He must've thought the same. For Christ's sake. Nick, I'm not like Natasha! How could you think that of me? I had a bad cold when that picture was taken. I hated it!'
'If Charles took you to see Richard he must have been worried,' Nick said: 'I take it everything was OK?'
'Yes, yes,' she assured him, 'and I've stopped smoking too.' He laughed. 'So how did you manage without me, if you didn't sleep with anyone else? Were you as frustrated as I was?'
'Oh, I managed.' She was evasive.
'How?' 'Oh, you know ... a little DIY.' She bit her lip in embarrassment. 'It saved a lot of hassle.' 'Show me?' He was intrigued, and very turned on, tired though he was. Sarah was reluctant, but he finally persuaded her, teasing and coaxing until she demonstrated, and then it made him so hard he had to make love to her again, before they settled down under the blankets.
It was only then that Nick began to talk, to tell her about the complications of his business and his life with Diana.
And at last, at long last, he talked about Natasha, and Sarah listened with growing horror as he revealed the story of his deep love for her and the torture she had put him through, both mentally and financially, as he had sought to cope with her growing dependency on heroin. By the time Natasha had left him for Charles he had used up every penny of his inheritance from his grandparents and he had been deeply in debt.
'I'd been getting more and more involved with Diana over the worst months and I married her very quickly after that,' he admitted. 'I was fond of her, but I realized quite soon after we got married that I'd made a mistake - too late, I'm afraid.'
'I wish you'd told me all this before,' she said gently. 'I would have understood you better, I'm sure.'
'Maybe I should have done,' he sighed. 'But I've always kept my feelings to myself. . . until you came along. I was so determined you weren't going to get to me. I was going to stay away from you and let you start again with someone else, but I just couldn't. When Cress said you were miserable too, I just took a chance and jumped on a plane. I want you back, Sarah, more than I can tell you ... if you'll have me?'
'What about Diana?' She sounded doubtful.
'It's going to be difficult, because she won't consider a divorce at the moment. She will, however, discuss money, so I started there. I may well have to wait the full amount of time for a divorce - unless we can find a settlement figure!' he admitted. 'I've spent hours with lawyers and accountants, and I've talked to Chris at some length about the business. He has a really good financial brain, and to my surprise he was very interested in joining me. He's raising new finance and joining us as a full partner, so in fact he can take over the day-to-day running of the business. With Charles, that makes three of us, and with the additional finance we can afford to buy out Diana and move to the only kind of premises I'd find acceptable. Chris knows of some in Covent Garden: At long last, darling, I'll be free of any interference. Diana will ask for a fortune as a settlement, but if I have to I'll sell some of the paintings. Luckily, the bulk of my money is made in the States, and out of the reach of her lawyers.'
'As long as you're not trying to con me?' Sarah was still uncertain.
'No, I'd never do that. I promise, Sarah. I just need a little more time to work it all out. By the time you come back from Ireland we'll be in the new offices, and I can concentrate on what to do next. Without the day-to-day management of the company, when Chris takes over, we can spend a great deal of time in America rather than here. My name will still be on the letter-heading to satisfy the clients, so the jobs will be safe. It'll be good for me and a great opportunity for you, living in Hollywood. Seth has plans for a musical next year, and we can both do it - though I admit the only fly in the ointment is that getting Seth to agree to the musical meant I have to do some pig of a job for him in Brazil first!' .
'You really have thought about it, haven't you?' Nick reached over and refilled the glasses they had discarded earlier.
'I've thought about nothing else. I knew there had to be a solution if I looked hard enough, but I really did feel I should do the right thing for once. Diana wanted me to stay so badly and I felt such a heel over the way I'd behaved. Having an affair behind my wife's back never really bothered me much before - probably because the woman involved didn't mean much I suppose. But you did ... do ... and I got to feel really awful, frankly, about both of you. Thankfully, your ultimatum was the spur I needed. I did what Diana wanted for a while, just to show willing, but it really was hopeless. All I could think of was you! Now I know I can't work it out with her, and I feel I can put the past behind me with a clear conscience. That's if you'll have me back, after all I've done to you.
'I prayed so hard that I wasn't going to be too late. I dreaded Charles talking you into marriage before I could get it all together. Believe me, darling, I'm really not the bastard everyone thinks I am; you have definitely found my weak spot!' he admitted, handing her a glass. 'To us, Sarah. I just hope you know what a tired old man you're taking on!'
CHAPTER 20
They had just over a week while Nick was in England. He moved into Sarah's flat with her, after collecting some clothes from Regent's Park, and swore all the staff at NGA to secrecy as he and Chris worked to organize the complicated move. Sarah was busy with the shopping trips for the Irish film and her shooting lessons, but she spent every precious minute she could with him before he went back to Los Angeles. Flying off to Dublin almost as soon as Nick got back from LA was almost more than she could bear. To be back together for two nights only to part again nearly finished her, and she boarded the Aer Lingus jet with a heavy heart, but wearing a ring of delicately plaited gold interspersed with diamonds on the third finger of her left hand.
'The nearest we can get for a while,' he'd told her as he put it onto her finger during their last evening together.
'The minute we can make it official I shall buy you the biggest diamond I can find!'
'I don't want that,' Sarah had protested. 'This means far more to me, and it's gorgeous!' She looked at the beautiful ring a great deal during the flight, twisting it continually, it was becoming a nervous habit already. Perhaps it was her substitute for holding a cigarette, she thought, amused, still wondering how serious Nick was about leaving Diana. It appalled her how much money he would need to divorce her.
Nick was the first question on James's lips when she saw him in the foyer of the Shelboume when she arrived.
With a shriek of delight she flew at him as he stood talking to Alex, and hugged them both. 'I didn't know you were on this, Alex,' she cried, kissing him.
'I'm the only English member of the crew!' he replied. 'Apart from you two, everyone else is Irish or American.'
'Back for some more creme de menthe?' Sarah teased. Alex shuddered.
'I still owe our bridegroom for that!' he threatened. 1'll get him sooner or later!'
'How's Cress?' Sarah asked, then admired James's tan. 'That's nearly as good as mine! Does it go all the way round, or is it just on your back?'
'All the way!' he grinned. 'And I haven't got a white bum either!'
'Shame we haven't got a full nude scene, then!' Alex grinned. 'Maybe I'll persuade our director we need one! Dinner with him at eight?'
James walked Sarah up to her room, anxious to know about Nick, since he knew she wouldn't talk about him in front of Alex. 'We felt a little guilty,' he admitted, 'dumping you two together like that.'
'I think it worked,' she told him cheerfully. 'I think he's finally left Diana. He says he's asked her for a divorce. Though I'll only really believe it when I hear the wedding march!'
'Oh, no, if Nick says that, he means it. He can be vicious and cruel - I've seen him be both - but he keeps a promise, that I'll guarantee, and I know he adores you.' James ruffled her hair. 'I think somehow. Miss Campbell, you may have brought our tough man to his knees! There will be many a lady out there wondering how you did it when the news gets out!'
'It won't get out yet, I hope.' Sarah looked worried. 'We have to keep it really secret from the Press. Diana just knows he wants a divorce, but not why.'
'Well, the leak won't come from me. My lady wife wouldn't be pleased if I did the dirty on you two!'
'You sound as if you've been married for years, not weeks. You'll be calling her ''er indoors' next!'
'Only when I'm mad! Pick you up in an hour - we can brave Mr O'Hara together. I hear he is one for a bevy or two with the boys - definitely not like Nicholas.'
Their director, a jolly, roly-poly Irish-American, was certainly a total contrast to Nick. Easygoing and full of filthy anti-British jokes. Bob O'Hara believed in enjoying life to the full and Ireland was his spiritual home. Originally he hadn't really wanted two English stars, but Seth had overruled him, and, being the man he was, and after viewing Home Leave he'd accepted the status quo and had wisely decided that Seth was right.
Bundled up against the chill wind that blustered relentlessly across St Stephen's Green, they explored a few local bars after dinner, and in the glow left by a great deal of Guinness they all began to get on famously and soon cemented their friendship. The Americans in the crew could hardly believe how easy their two stars were to work with. Totally without airs and graces, and always cheerful despite the awful weather on the first two weeks of location in the Wicklow mountains, they never complained. Being an American-financed film, there were luxurious caravans for all the stars, but James and Sarah, to the crew's astonishment, preferred to share the same one, playing backgammon when they weren't required to work or the weather closed in on them.
The backgammon competition almost threatened to overtake the poker school as time went on, and more of the unit were drawn to take part. James was winning so handsomely they all began to pray for better weather!
Alex got his own back on James within weeks of starting. They were shooting a scene in a cottage which called for James and Sarah to be handcuffed to a brass bedstead by the enemy they were pursuing. Amid great hilarity, and a lot of doubtful jokes, the scene progressed until lunchtime, and then, as the crew broke for lunch, Alex grinned. 'Have fun kids!' he told them, his eyes twinkling, and walked out of the cottage with the hand-cuffs key in his pocket.
'I don't believe this!' James exclaimed in amazement.
'He said he'd get you!' Sarah began to giggle. 'What on earth shall we do?'